Professional Documents
Culture Documents
www.mangomap.com
To help you get started we’ve put together this book to help you un-
derstand the key benefits of a modern Online GIS, show you how other
counties are already getting a head start with Mango, and give you some
practical ideas on how to put together fantastic looking web maps.
Case Studies 21
Columbus County, NC................................................................................................................................................21
5 Things GIS Pros should Consider When Building a Web GIS .......................................................................52
Webmap Analytics...................................................................................................................................................... 78
8
CLOUD MAPPING
FOR COUNTIES
The paradigm shift to cloud
based computing is driving one
of the most transformational
periods in history for business
and government.
9
Just over decade ago, Google introduced the world to a new way to
discover, search, and interact with our own communities via online street
maps and satellite imagery in Google Maps. It cleared a path forward for
the application of GIS via simplicity and accessibility.
REIGNING IN COSTS
In an economy where the purse strings are forever tightening, physical
on-site setups are no longer feasible, nor necessary. Suggesting an
in-house server setup in a small government agency today would probably
have your colleagues reaching for the straight jacket.
Supposing you have the expertise on hand, you’ve got to establish your
needs, procure appropriate hardware, procure software with complex
pricing and licensing restrictions, setup dedicated network infrastructure,
and configure dozens of applications. You need physical space, cooling,
and you’ve got to keep it running 24/7 with fallback UPS’s. And then,
you’ve got to back it all up, regularly.
10
re-configuring. Specialist equipment may also need contract staff to deal
with configuration and repairs.
INSTANT IMPLEMENTATION
The idea of “moving to the cloud” has become so ubiquitous that it’s
almost cliche. We all know it’s probably the right thing to do, so let’s look
at some tangible benefits that counties and townships can deliver to
constituents and local business right now.
Even without dedicated GIS team, data rich visualizations with ready
made customer queries can be configured easily. Mango offers a simple
interface for visualizing and styling datasets, what-you-see-is-what-you-
get editing panels for enriching maps with complementary images, video,
or instructions, and targeted tools that let users dig deep for answers.
11
know what you’ll pay. No calculators, no credits, no complex licenses,
and no unexpected surprises on your invoice. It’s also extremely flexible.
Need more storage? Click to upgrade, and keep on working.
COMMUNITY BENEFITS
A web GIS platform is easier to implement, easier to maintain, and most
importantly, provides efficiencies that legacy systems simply can’t.
Cloud based mapping means delivering maps that enhance civic en-
gagement and helps local business, but it doesn’t have to mean high
level of cost. Counties are ideally placed to recoup the benefits of cloud
mapping with surprisingly low barriers to entry.
One of the greatest problems with old models of service delivery is the
slow entropic march of bureaucracy. Lines and request forms really can
be a thing of the past. New models of service delivery such as cloud based
mapping are unlocking citizen participation and satisfaction.
12
When it’s so simple to publish land and parcel maps to make them easily
accessible to the public for viewing and downloading, the question isn’t
why, but why not?
They need maps that allow them to query data and drill down to find highly
relevant answers. Mango’s cloud mapping platform for local government
can deliver those answers, and deliver counties significant cost savings
in the process.
The public are engaging with maps at a level and complexity not seen
before. That endless supply of data in everyone’s pocket is slowly but
surely eroding the barriers of specialized technical systems and enabling
democratic access.
Those barriers still exist, and they’re rooted in the old systems sitting on
servers in local government offices across the country.
13
14
“Mango is a great out-of-the-box product that
will allow you to get a professional product
with minimal outlay of time and money.”
15
IN FOCUS: WHY
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
IS MOVING TO MANGO
Let’s face it: GIS is a complex beast,
but empowering citizens and local
business with the insights locked
inside geospatial data doesn’t have
to be rocket science.
16
Until now, web GIS viewers have been designed with the GIS professional
in mind — not the end users of web maps. They’re clunky, ugly, confusing
for the lay-user and simply don’t work on all browsers. Mobile? Forget it.
or Flash,
or *shudders*
Silverlight.
We built Mango to be the antidote to all that’s wrong with online GIS.
17
5 Reasons Why Counties and
Townships are Moving to Mango
1. YOU’RE IN CONTROL
Mango is more than just a web map viewer; it’s an online portal for all your
county’s maps and public datasets. Mango integrates into your existing
website with ease with custom domain control, and a ready made portal
for your public maps and data.
You don’t need consultants to create and host your maps, or pay them
each time you need to update your data. Your data remains in your hands.
Mango just works. Everywhere. Any device, any platform. Even IE6.
3. IT’S POWERFUL
Mango works with your existing data, in all the major geospatial file
formats:
18
For your map users, an intuitive, familiar interface bridges the gap for
those who aren’t familiar with GIS-speak.
From simple tax parcel lookups, performing calculations using your data’s
attributes, or extracting deeper insights through proximity analysis, Mango
is made for rapid information gathering and decision making.
4. NO CODING, NO SERVERS,
NO COMPLEX LICENSING
“In one hour last night I managed to achieve things I have been attempting
on and off via Carto, fusion tables and custom JavaScript for over a year.”
19
5. FLAT RATE PRICING = NO SURPRISES.
Pound for pound, Mango does more for less. Check the competition.
Simplify your budget: flat rate pricing means you know exactly what you’ll
pay every month — or year, if you’d like a 20% discount.
The end of the 2015/16 fiscal year is fast approaching — will you continue
to serve your county’s GIS data on a platform that makes it hard for
citizens to find what they’re looking for? Migrating to Mango takes most
of our local government customers a week, so now is your opportunity
to unburden yourself from complex tools and unnecessary expense and
move to Mango.
20
Case Studies
COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC
THE NORTH CAROLINA COUNTY
WEB MAP PORTAL WITH OVER
17,000 VISITORS PER MONTH
21
Columbus County in North Carolina is the third largest county in the
state, home to nearly 60,000 residents. Services are provided to citizens
of the county across a variety of departments from Emergency Services
to Animal control. The county maintains a wide range of geographic
information to support delivery of these services and provided access
to information to citizens and the private sector.
Like many counties, Columbus has been using GIS for many years,
preparing maps and reports to those requesting them, using desktop
software and databases to store and manage the information.
ENTER MANGO.
The county was seeking to replace an older server based system that
according to Alan was antiquated, expensive to maintain and lacked
the functionality of more modern systems such as support for modern
browsers, support for mobile devices and the assurance of availability
in the Cloud.
Experienced with traditional desktop GIS software, Alan cites the “sim-
plicity, ease of use and short learning curve” as key reasons he initially
was drawn to Mango.
22
Working with various departments Alan was able to develop around a
dozen thematic maps, each focused on a particular service area from
Land Records to Flood Mapping to School Districts.
Gaining early traction and support by other departments for the maps
Alan was able to deploy the map portal and make it accessible on the
county’s website.
And due to the attractive pricing, he was able allocate existing budget
and deploy the system without having to get high level approval or wait
for the next budget cycle.
23
A CUSTOMER OF MANGO FOR
OVER THREE YEARS NOW, THE
PROOF OF SUCCESS, AS THEY
SAY, IS IN THE PUDDING!
The Columbus county’s Web Map portal has been a huge success, with
over 17,000 views a month, coming from citizens, county staff, appraisers
to name a few.
24
“What immediately impressed me was
how quickly I was able to upload data
and get a useful map published. Other
products I tried required more time in
the learning curve than I could afford.”
25
PLUMAS COUNTY, CA
Mango is “Easy To Use”, and
“Extremely Cost Effective”
26
Over a year ago, Plumas County’s GIS division was actively looking to
replace our public-facing Internet mapping platform that was out-of-
date and did not have the county’s desired functionality requirements
and operational goals.
Mango was the one company we researched that met all of our expec-
tations for a fraction of the cost other vendors were charging. Mango’s
interface is intuitive, easy-to-use, and extremely cost effective.
27
“Since implementing Mango into our
GIS department’s website, we went
from ‘basic and boring’... to ‘WOW!’”
28
Mango’s mapping application. Our users can zoom in to look at a property
or query the land use. Having a picture of what’s on the land helps clarify
and support the descriptions and Mango’s visualization tools are simply
superb.
Our users get the complete picture of what’s out there in our county.
Different departments within our county system are using Mango to
evaluate data for a variety of uses and to assist in part of their deci-
sion-making process.
Different mapping tools within the platform allow users to perform spatial
relationships, search and query attributes, download data, and many more.
We also have received positive feedback from the public and commercial
users.
29
How to Create
the Ultimate Land
Records Map
The land record map is by far the most heavily
accessed map in a city or county web map portal
and in this chapter I’m going to be showing you
the elements that make up a superb interactive
land record map.
30
Through my work at Mango I’ve created dozens of land parcel maps and
viewed countless more from counties and cities across the country using
our web GIS. Some get it right, but many don’t. Following the steps in this
video will allow you to be one of the ones that get it right.
You might have been making maps for years, but often these maps were
either for your own use or only shared with a small knowledgeable group
within your organization. I know that the thought of opening up our work
to the entire internet can be a little daunting to say the least. But fear not,
if you follow the simple steps in this tutorial you will have a land records
map that residents, assessors and appraisers will love.
The first step in getting it right is a shift in perspective. One of the biggest
mistakes in design is to assume that everyone else
sees the world in the same way we do, but if we take
a step back and look at the application from the
point of view of our users it’s easy to make design
decisions that work.
31
MAKE YOUR PARCEL
LAYER STAND OUT
Of course the most important element of any land parcel map will be the
land parcel layer so we will start with that.
An orange outline with no fill has become the defacto standard for parcel
boundaries which as of course the most important layer on a land records
map.
On a desktop GIS we often aren’t using a base map, so any dark color will
offer good contrast, but your web map users will demand a base map
below your data in order to give them context.
The base maps will either be a street map or a satellite map and this
makes an orange outline ideal because it gives good definition for both.
Especially the imagery which for most places outside of Nevada and
Arizona will be predominately green.
32
BASE MAP
The first consideration is a base map layer. A hybrid view that has the
road and neighborhood names above satellite imagery is a good default
choice, but it’s also important to allow users to switch the base map so
more advanced users can choose the basemap that’s best suited to their
specific requirements.
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
If you have access to recent aerial imagery you should also consider using
this as the base imagery provided by companies such as Bing may not
be as up to date and will offer lower levels of detail. These should either
be uploaded to your web mapping system or better yet added as a WMS
map service in order to avoid having to do large uploads.
Another nice feature for adding context is integration with Google Street
View. This allows users to click on a place on the map and then explore
as if they were walking along the street rather than looking at it from
above. This is especially beneficial for appraisers looking to gain a greater
understanding of the area.
INFORMATION SIDEBAR
From experience you will have a feel for the technical ability of your user
base; if the technical ability is generally low then it can be a good idea
to include a side panel on the map with instructions explaining how the
system is intended to be used.
Alternatively you could also include a help link in the title bar that opens
a popup with instructions.
PARCEL LABELS
Lastly, add labels to your parcel layer. Preferably this will be the APN
(Assessor’s Parcel Number) as this will make it easy for users to find
multiple closely located parcels from a list.
33
MAKE THE POPUP WINDOWS POP
A common mistake on land parcels maps is to pay little attention to the
popup that’s displayed when a parcel is clicked. We see too many maps
that is just a dump of all the attribute values for that parcel in no particular
order and containing some attributes that are of no use to the end user.
A very important feature is a link from the parcel popup to any other
web based systems that contain information for the parcel such as the
register of deeds, property cards or tax statements.
34
A best practice is to also have a link from these external information
systems back to the parcel on the map, this means the user can navigate
seamlessly from one to the other and back again.
Popups can also benefit from videos and charts providing your data
contains suitable information for these.
PROVIDE TOOLS TO
SIMPLIFY WORKFLOWS
Your parcel map will be used by a wide range of people. Some will be
residents looking for information but others such as appraisers will be
power users that are interacting with the system on a daily basis.
So rather than just adding every tool we can we should think about how
the map is commonly used and how to streamline that process.
35
The most common workflow will be to search for an address or APN, view
the parcel information in the popup and then do a print.
PROVIDE SUPPLEMENTAL
LAYERS
You parcel map should provide supplemental layers that add something
to the workflows rather than distract from them.
For example layers such as roads which are already contained in the base
map or parcel centroids which don’t provide any additional information
should be avoided, whilst layers such as building footprints or recent
aerial imagery will add to the experience and complement the parcel data.
36
INTEGRATE YOUR PARCEL
MAP WITH YOUR MAP PORTAL,
WEBSITE, AND BRAND
You might not think that as a branch of government that you have a
brand, but you do. A brand isn’t just about advertising, it’s about trust
and authority.
When your users are viewing the map how to they know it’s authoritative?
How do they know the information is from a trusted source? Remember
that the vast majority of the users of your map will have entered the map
from Google rather than link on your City or County website.
A logo lets users know who published the map. Ensure your residents
know their local government is working hard to provide valuable services.
37
NAVIGATION BETWEEN YOUR
MAP AND WEBSITE
Navigation should be two way, your users should be able to navigate from
your main website to the map and from the map back to your website.
This kind of cross linking builds trust and provides users with a seamless
experience.
Users should also be able to navigate easily between your other published
maps.
The gold standard for trust is to use your own domain name. Anyone can
create a map and put your logo and color scheme in place but by seeing
your domain name your users are certain of the source.
Too many Cities and Counties using cloud based mapping systems
continue to use the domain name of the cloud map provider rather than
their own which causes many users to question the authority of the
source.
38
MAKE YOUR MAP SEARCH
ENGINE FRIENDLY
Google doesn’t magically know what a webpage is about, it uses text to
figure out what “keywords” a page is relevant to and as our data at Mango
shows us that the majority of map visitors arrive from Google rather than
the client’s main website, pleasing the Google Gods is important.
A web map usually contains very little text so we must ensure that the
limited text we do have control over is put to good use, that means it
should be descriptive. Here’s an example of a bad map title:
Parcel Map
SUMMARY
As you can see, when it comes to producing a high quality parcel map
there’s a lot more to think about than simply uploading your parcel data
and putting it online. For your map to maximize its potential you need to
cover all the bases, luckily if you follow most of the instructions in this
chapter, you should hit the mark.
39
Best Practices: A
Guide to Online GIS for
Local Government
40
Best Practice #1:
WEBMAP PORTALS
MUST DIE
Web map portals weren’t invented because they were a sensible
design decision, they were invented to reduce cost.
With prices like that it’s not surprising that clients wanted to get the
maximum bang for their buck by trying to cram as much map data as
possible into a single web map deployment.
In reality, they were really nothing more than a data dump which left the
user the task of wading through the data in an attempt to make sense
of it all.
Fast forward to the present day, and we now live in a time where, thanks
to the fantastic work of the opensource GIS community and massive
advances in cloud computing, we have web map publication platforms
that allow anyone with a web browser and some data to put together
a web map in a matter of hours.
The cost of web map deployments have dropped to a point where the
case for web map portals that revolves around cost saving is no longer
valid and now they must die.
41
Web maps free from the constraints of price and complexity can be super
targeted in terms of data, users, scope and length of relevance. In days
gone by the idea of making a map that will only be relevant for a few days,
or only shared with a handful of people would have been completely
unthinkable. Now, it’s a reality and we need to change our behaviour as
mapmakers to match that reality.
The map below is the opposite to a map portal. It’s laser focused, and lets
the user know immediately what they are looking at and the story that
the map wants to tell. Notice that the map doesn’t include anything that
doesn’t need to be there. There are no supplemental layers to be toggled
on and off, and no tools that don’t make sense in the context of the map.
Next time you are building a web map and consider adding another layer,
ask yourself this: Is this layer going to add to the story, or just be an
unnecessary distraction?
42
Best Practice #2:
Does your web map have lots of layers than can be turned on and off
using a check box like this?
If the answer is yes to all (or some) of these three questions then the
43
design inspiration for the web map has come from desktop GIS and this
is usually a colossal mistake.
WHY?
44
Unless we’re creating a web map that’s
targeting users of desktop GIS, then we
should avoid trying to imitate GIS systems.
45
BEST PRACTICE #�:
5 COMMON WEBMAP
DESIGN MISTAKES
TO AVOID
As most of us are already aware, the days of sharing maps via PDF or
zipped shapefiles are numbered. Interactive web maps are now the
method of choice when it comes to publishing and sharing Geodata.
If you’re not designing web maps already, it’s only a matter of time before
you will be, so we’ve prepared this short list of the most common web
map design mistakes you need to avoid.
46
1. MAKING MAPS THAT AREN’T
VISUALLY ENGAGING
The internet is the home of the limited attention span. When making
desktop maps you’re usually assured of a captive audience but for web
maps nothing could be further from the truth.
Your web map will be competing with a host of other open browser tabs
all containing colourful and engaging websites that are vying for your
users attention.
Your web map needs to be able to stand shoulder to shoulder with those
distractions by using the same tactics as regular websites:
47
2. MAKING MAPS THAT
DON’T TELL A STORY
Once again to push back against the limited attention span of web surfers,
your map needs to get straight to the point.
You need to produce focused maps that try to convey a single message
in a clear and concise manner. You need need to follow the advice of
Steve Krug’s classic 2005 book “Don’t Make Me Think”. If the message
contained in your map isn’t loud and clear your web map will experience
a high abandonment rate.
48
3. CREATING WEB MAP
PORTALS THAT CONTAIN
TOO MANY DATASETS
This point follows on from the last. The opposite of the “map story” is the
map portal. A web map portal tries to cram as many datasets as possible
into a single web map. This may be the easiest way to publish your data,
but it is far from the best user experience and most users simply won’t
have the patience to explore all of the layers presented.
Your users will be better server by a web portal that contains a separate
page for each dataset with a link to a story map that best showcases the
usage of that specific dataset. Individual pages will also make it much
easier for your users to discover the datasets via a search engine.
49
4. MAKING YOUR WEB MAP
LOOK LIKE A DESKTOP GIS
“The most common mistake in design is to assume that the
users of your design see the world in the same way as you.”
Most users of your map will have never used desktop GIS software and
their interactions with digital maps will most likely have been with Google
Maps. They will expect the same level of simplicity in your web map
application.
Try to avoid:
YY Big legends with many layers that can be turned on and off
YY Mouse navigation that differs from Google Maps
YY Not having a clear map title or description
YY Complex toolbars full of non-essential tools
A parcel lookup map should be laser focused to deliver answers without any unnecessary clutter.
50
5. IF IN DOUBT, TAKE IT OUT
In short, you should strive to make your application as simple as possible
in order to improve usability. You should strive to remove features from
your web map, rather than add them—and the more you can remove the
better.
It’s time for that measuring tool and overview map to get the chop!
Does your thematic map of U.S state poverty rates really need a search
function?
If a feature doesn’t in some way help to convey the story of your map
then it has no place being there and should be removed. The same goes
for map layers, if a layer isn’t adding something to the narrative of your
map story then it needs to go. Also remember to remove any attributes
from your identify popup windows that aren’t related to the theme of the
map, they are nothing but a distraction.
SUMMARY
Web mapping isn’t a new paradigm it’s simply a new medium; a medium
that’s very easy to transfer your existing map making skills to—provided
you remember that when it comes to the world of the web:
51
Best Practice #4:
Tools like Mango are removing most of the pain from web mapping by
allowing applications to be built without writing any code or managing
any servers, but there are still some important considerations to be made
when moving our maps from the desktop to the web. Below are some of
the most important.
In most cases the vast majority of web map users won’t even know what
a GIS is, never mind know how to operate one. This is actually the great
attraction of web maps, it gives us the opportunity to put the power of
GIS in the hands of a much larger audience, but at the same time we
need to consider how to serve up that power and insight in a format that
is user friendly, accessible and intuitive.
52
web maps look quite a lot like that of a desktop GIS, this is something
we should aim to avoid. What users are familiar with is Google maps, so
when making your web map, your are aiming for this:
Not this:
53
Google Maps is really a different beast to what we are producing in terms
of web maps as GIS professionals, but we should certainly take inspiration
from its simplicity and accessibility.
— E.F. SCHUMACHER
54
If a feature doesn’t in some way help to convey the story of your map
then it has no place being there and should be removed. The same goes
for map layers, if a layer isn’t adding something to the narrative of your
map story then it needs to go. Also remember to remove any attributes
from your identify popup windows that aren’t related to the theme of the
map, they are nothing but a distraction.
55
don’t want to be a small village with a tiny symbol and a label that can
only be made out by those with the keenest of eyesight.
Google uses the text on the page to figure out what the map is about
and include it in the results for relevant search queries. If you followed
the rules in the previous section about making it clear for users what
the map is about, then is will be clear also for search engines by default.
Rather than using vector data (that contains the raw geometry) the de
facto standard in web mapping is render the map layers as a bitmap
image and send them to the web browser as tiles.
The average web map tile is around 60KB, it doesn’t matter how many
layers it contains the size will remain around the same. So it doesn’t
matter whether a single tile set contains one layer or twenty, it will still
have the same size and take the same time to load.
In a desktop GIS we are able to turn all of the individual layers on and off.
In web map we can do the same, but each layer or group of layers that
we allow to be turned on or off in the legend is a new tile set, with each
tile set stacked on top of the other.
Every additional layer that we add as an individual tile set will double
56
the number of tiles that need to be downloaded. Therefore the larger
the number of tile sets on a single map, the slower the map will become.
In order to keep your maps fast it’s best to use as few tile sets (called
layer groups in Mango) as possible.
If we put all of this in just two layer groups, it will load much faster:
In the first example the browser needs to load six tilesets when it loads.
In the second example it only has to load two and the user has the option
to also later turn on the Employment rate by county. By putting the
employment layer on top, it will draw over the other layers when the user
comes to turn it on, aiding discoverability and usability.
A web map server should also use caching so that the map image only
needs to be rendered by the web map server once, on subsequent
requests it just fetches the previously rendered map tiles from the file
system which is much faster. Mango uses multiple levels of caching and
as a result a map becomes faster once it’s in active use because the
caches have been warmed up.
SUMMARY
As you can see when it comes to web mapping there are many factors
that need careful consideration above and beyond what we are used
to when creating maps on the desktop, but with a little planning and a
focus on speed and simplicity these challenges can easily be overcome.
57
Integrating with Mango
Mango fits seamlessly into your existing
workflows and processes.
58
INTEGRATING WITH
YOUR DESKTOP GIS
Desktop or server-based GIS are commonly
used by local government to store, manage,
and analyze geospatial data. However, they
provided limited scope for sharing maps
within the organization or the public.
59
The goal here is not to completely replace desktop GIS, but to leverage the
strengths of each system to bring maximum benefit to an organization
and the public it serves.
Mango takes the pain out of synchronizing your offline GIS data with your
online maps and data with a couple of easy to configure tools.
Data Re-upload
The first method, “Data re-upload” is a manual process suitable to sit-
uations where data changes infrequently and you want to have full
oversight of the update process. For example, if you have quarterly or
annual updates to apply, then this tool is perfect for that process.
By simply locating to your dataset in Mango, you can click the Re-upload
button, browse to your data and select the new files. Once the upload
is complete, your maps will automatically update with the new version
of the data.
60
→
→
Automated Data Sync
Imagine — you work on your data in your desktop GIS, and magically, your
web maps just.. update. Why work harder when you can work smarter?
Synchronizing your offline GIS data with your Online maps is a key
challenge to address when choosing and setting up an Online GIS. Yet
most solutions out there cost an arm and a leg and normally require an
enterprise database and enterprise GIS on top of it, both of which are
complicated to setup and costly setup and to maintain.
That’s where our Data Sync tool comes into the picture.
This tool is suitable in cases where the data is updated frequently and
the manual re-upload would become too time-consuming.
Data Sync lets you do complex work on datasets in your desktop GIS or
spreadsheet application, and have changes updated on your web maps,
without even logging into Mango.
After an initial data upload, simply point to a Dropbox folder containing that
data and link it to Mango. Any changes to the data stored in Dropbox will
automatically upload to Mango and update on any maps using that data.
This tool is a great time saver and gives you peace of mind that your
users are always seeing the most up-to-date information in your maps.
The main benefits of the tool are:
→ →
61
Best of all, your core data need not be stored in Dropbox; you can simply
copy and paste new files to that folder, or write a script to export from
your spatial database of choice to the Dropbox folder.
These two tools provide a way to update your data from a desktop/server
environment to an online environment.
Of course, you can also go the other way; if you are editing or updating
data in Mango, you can download that data in a spatial format and use
in your offline environment. This gives you full access to your data to use
it in your chosen Desktop GIS.
62
INTEGRATE MANGO
WITH INFORMATION
STORED IN A CMS
Mango offers useful ways to
integrate your information
stored in an external content
management system or database.
63
LINK FROM MANGO TO
RECORDS, FILES, OR IMAGES
STORED IN ONLINE CONTENT
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
If you have documents, such as title deeds, photos or inspection reports
stored in an online document management system, you can link these
to features in a map in Mango. In the example below, three URLs are
available to the user to access information about a property.
64
Using the Mango custom popup tool you can build custom URL’s that
include values from the selected feature. For example, if in our dataset
we have a column called ID that contains the unique identifier for a
deed, we can build a URL from within the Mango custom popup tool that
links to our deed document in the following format:
https://orange-county.com/deeds?id={ID}
https://orange-county.com/deeds?id=019865
When clicked, the user will be taken to the specific deed in the County’s
external deed management system with that URL.
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LINK FROM A RECORD IN A
CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
TO A FEATURE ON YOUR MAP
In this scenario, we have some form of existing content or records man-
agement system and we would like records in that system to have a
clickable link that when clicked opens your map then zooms to the feature,
highlights it and opens the attribute popup.
To achieve this the first step is to upload our GIS data to Mango and
retrieve the URL template for that layer as shown below.
Then in your content management system you can insert the relevant
variables into the URL template in order to make a URL that links to that
feature in Mango. For example, we change:
mangomap.com/orange-county/maps/49891?field={field-name}&value={field-value}
to
mangomap.com/orange-county/maps/49891?field=pin&value=9799028061.212
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qq Tip: You will likely need to ask your web
developer to create the links in this
format in your content management system.
Clicking the link in your content management system will then open a web
browser and take you to that record in Mango, highlighting the feature
and showing information in a popup, as shown in the example map below.
We can also offer the reverse path - using the PIN value, we can also create
links that take users directly from the parcel map to the register of deeds.
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Increasing Visibility &
Tracking User Statistics
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INCREASE THE
VISIBILITY OF
YOUR WEB MAP
Never before has it been so
important to work hard on
improving the accessibility
of your web application.
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With over five hundred
million active websites
online, your shiny new
web map is fighting for
attention in a huge ocean
of content.
In this chapter we’ll look at the four most important tips that will increase
the visibility and accessibility of your web map.
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So how do we get noticed by search engines? Firstly they need to know
we exist, secondly they need to know what we are about and lastly they
need to be given reason to think that we are important.
INDEXING
PLACEMENT
If your map is about national parks in Texas, you want to make sure
that the works “Texas”, “national” and “park” are featured prominently
on your page so that the search engines know they are important. This
means making sure they are included in the page URL, in the page title
(contained in the <title> HTML tag in the page header), and that
they are used in the most prominent text on the page—which should be
the map title—preferably using <h1> HTML tags.
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It’s also helpful to have the words in other sections of the page, but try
not to go overboard and use the keywords in an unnatural way. Google
and other search engines are very smart and know when people are trying
to game the system, and will actually penalize your page if it thinks you
are excessively loading the page with keywords.
Maps, by their visual nature, tend not to have a lot of plain text that can be
read by search engines. Remember, search engines can’t see the text
in images, so can’t use the labels or other layers displayed on your map.
This means that as mapmakers, we need make the most of the few areas
of text that we do have. We need to pay careful attention to the names
we give our maps, the names we give our layers in the legend, and make
the most out of any other places where we can place text, such as layer
descriptions or map landing pages.
Ask yourself whether a new user to this page is given a clear and concise
description of what the map is about and what it contains. If the answer
is yes, it’s safe to assume that Google will index it correctly.
RANKING
So now Google knows that your site exists and hopefully it has a good idea
what your site is about we can start thinking about pagerank. Pagerank
is the position that your web page appears in the search engine results
(SERPs) for a given search phrase, e.g.: “map of Texas national parks”.
Obviously in order to increase discoverability we want to appear as close
to the top of those results as possible.
Google places pages that it thinks are important for a given keyphrase
at the top, so how does it decide what pages are important?
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Firstly, it wants to see that the given search phrase is featured prominently
on the page (as discussed in the previous section), but more importantly
it wants outside sources to confirm that the content is important for a
given search phrase. It does this by analysing the outside web pages
that link to your page.
Websites that link to your page that rank well for your particular phrase
and that have a high search rank themselves are the most valuable. For
example if we want to rank well for “map of Texas national parks”, having
the National Parks Service (www.nps.gov) link to our map would be
very beneficial.
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2. MAKE IT EASY FOR USERS
TO SHARE YOUR MAP
In the previous section we learned
how important it is for your map
to feature prominently on search
engines if you want to ensure vis-
ibility and increase the number of
people who can benefit from your
map. We also learned that most
important way to achieve that is
by having people link to your map
and share it across social networks.
This is why you should strive to make it as easy as possible for users to
share your maps. You should enable users to share the map across social
networks with a single click and provide snippets of code that can be
used to easily embed the map in web pages, blogs or emails.
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3. DON’T EVER, EVER, USE
FLASH, JAVA, OR SILVERLIGHT
If you value visibility and accessibility the use of Flash, Java or Silverlight
is the worst technology choice possible. These technologies are browser
plugins and have nowhere near complete adoption. If you choose to use
a technology that’s based on a browser plugin, you will effectively be
closing the door on more than 30% of your potential visitors.
I just checked the site analytics for Mango. The site receives tens of
thousands of visitors per month and of those visitors 22% didn’t have Flash
support, 25% didn’t have Java, and a massive 68% didn’t have Silverlight.
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4. MAKE YOUR WEB
MAPS MOBILE READY
With over 60% of global internet traffic now coming from mobile devices
your web map needs to go mobile or go home. Never has mobile support
been so important to the accessibility of your web mapping application
and offering mobile support is no longer a novelty, it’s a necessity.
Mango for example, primarily caters to business users and I can confirm
from our own logs that over 25% of the traffic to the maps published on
our platform came from mobile alone, up from just 20% last quarter.
Not only do you need to “support” mobile, you need to make it a first class
citizen and ensure that the experience for the user is equally as rich and
engaging as it is on the browser. Users will no longer stand for a stripped
down “lite” version of your web map application on mobile, they want the
full sugar, full caffeine version in the palm of their hand, 24 hours a day,
from anywhere in the world.
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“I would highly recommend Mango
to anyone in local government,
as it can become such an asset
to your staff and community.”
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WEBMAP ANALYTICS
You created your shiny new fully
featured web map, and now you
are wondering how much impact
is it having. Rather than relying on
user feedback, wouldn't it be nice
to know to have comprehensive
and actionable data?
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If something can’t be measured, then it can’t be improved. In this chapter,
I'm going to show you how you can use analytics systems to answer
questions that gauge the success of your web maps.
These questions and many more can be answered using third party
analytics platforms. After reading this chapter your will be up to speed
on the two leading options when it comes to tracking your web maps.
Google Analytics (free) and Maptiks (paid).
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GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Google Analytics is a massively popular analytics tool on the web, and
is the default choice for all web designers. It is currently used to collect
traffic data for over 50% of all websites on the internet.
Google Analytics is a free tool and is simple to use. All you need to begin
is insert a small snippet of tracking code on each page of your website,
or in our case on each map.
Once installed you will begin seeing data in near real time and can view
aggregate data for any period of time across all maps, or individual maps.
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The key metrics tracked using
Google Analytics are:
This is the total number of unique This is the average time that users
visitor to your site. When users spent on the site/maps. This
visit, Google places a cookie in metric is much more important for
their browser, so next time they web mapping than bounce rate. A
come they can detect if they are high average time on site would
a new or returning visitor. indicate that users find your map
useful and stick around to use lots
of features.
SESSIONS
In addition to these key metrics
The is the total number of times there are dozens of other data
your site was visited and inter- points that can be viewed, such as
acted with. This number is usually the user's location, which device
larger than users, as a single user they are using to access the map
might have had multiple sessions and which website the user came
during the time period you are from before viewing your map(s).
reviewing.
This data is often actionable and
can be used to assess the impact
BOUNCE RATE of any changes or updates you
have made. For example, an
A bounce is when a user visits a increase in average session
single page your website (or map duration would indicate that your
portal in this case) and leaves maps are becoming more useful,
without visiting another page. For or an increase in the number
normal websites, a high bounce of visitors could indicate that
rate can indicate that the user marketing efforts are bearing fruit.
hasn't found what they are looking
for.
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MAPTIKS
Maptiks is similar to Google Analytics and offers many of the same data
points, but unlike Google Analytics, Maptiks was designed specifically for
web maps and gives you access to some map specific metrics.
This allows you to see how active the user was on the map. A high number
of pans and zooms indicated high levels of engagement.
LAYERS
See how many individual layers the user viewed during the session.
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ACTIVITY
The number of clicks and queries the average user made during their
session.
See the areas on your map which had the most activity (pans, zooms,
clicks). This will allow you to quickly build a picture of the areas within
your map that are of most use to your users.
DEEPER INSIGHTS
Unlike Google Analytics, Maptiks is a paid service with plans starting from
$39 per month, but it offers real insights into both how and where your
users are interacting with your maps.
Usage heatmap lets you analyze where users are viewing and interacting with your maps.
If you are investing heavily in your web mapping system, it's a sensible
investment as it will give you a much clear picture of how your maps are
performing and how they are being used.
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The #1 Web GIS Choice
for Local Government
Mango is about making the complex simple
and transforming your data into answers for
your community. To help you understand
why Mango is the right choice for your local
government’s online map deployments, here’s
a run down of where Mango leads the way.
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MANGO VS.
ArcGIS ONLINE
Hundreds of organizations have chosen Mango over ArcGIS Online for
their web mapping requirements and the reason is simplicity.
Mango is easier for you, easier for your accountant and most importantly
of all it's easier for your users. Mango offers you the following benefits:
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MANGO VS. ArcGIS
ENTERPRISE (SERVER)
With a full server setup with ArcGIS Enterprise priced around $30,000, it’s
not for everyone. Consider additional management and security issues
with on-site servers, Mango can offer the following advantages for small
and medium GIS offices:
Anyone that’s worked in IT knows that it’s a fact of life that sometimes
servers will fail. A hard disk might stop functioning, backup power might
fail causing a hard shutdown or your ISP has a meltdown. And you can
guarantee that the server will choose the worst possible time to fail. With
Mango you can fully enjoy your summer vacation or Christmas lunch,
with the peace of mind that we are monitoring the servers so that you
don’t have to.
(( FIXED COSTS
Hosting your own server is like owning your own car, it needs regular
maintenance and will likely throw up some expensive surprises from time
to time. Mango’s pricing is fixed, meaning you know exactly how much
your web mapping system will cost and can budget accordingly.
(( NO CODING
With Mango, you don’t need to lift a finger to keep your web maps online.
That’s our business, and we take care of the secure, reliable, and fast web
map hosting for you, meaning fewer late nights updating and maintaining
servers, and more time to do what counts.
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MANGO VS. DIY
There’s few things as satisfying as rolling your own web maps. Bespoke
webmaping is an art in itself; assembling the many elements and coding
them into a hyper-focused web map deployment. But it requires certain
luxuries we don’t all possess - coding skills across a range of program-
ming languages, knowledge of the full stack of libraries, and not least
significant time it takes to put together a coherent and comprehensive
web map application.
For those that aren’t full stack map spinners, Mango let’s you build and
deploy incredible interactive web maps, in minutes.
Unlimited add-on named users, and robust user and group access policies
that provide granular security access controls for internal and external
users.
(( NO CODING. EVER.
All Mango features are configured via an easy to use GUI. Database
queries, spatial analysis, print tools - all can be deployed in minutes with
a few clicks.
(( ALWAYS UP TO DATE
Bespoke web maps look and work great - until something breaks. Libraries
update, code corrupts, servers go down. Mango is a fully managed
platform that is kept in tune, up to date, and monitored 24/7. We do the
heavy lifting so you can spend more time doing what matters to your
community.
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Ready to get started?
Dive straight into GIS web mapping with a 30-day free
trial of Enterprise plan on Mango.
Sign up at www.mangomap.com/sign-up
Questions?
If you have questions about Mango, we’d love to talk!
You can request a demo from one of our amazing
team members. Just click the link below to book an
appointment, and we will be in touch!
Talk to you soon.
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The Simple Online GIS
Make Amazing Interactive Web Maps That You and Your Users Will Love!
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